New York exhibit allows virtual 'interviews' with Holocaust survivors

Bebeto Matthews / AP

Josephine Mairzadeh, right, use a microphone to pose a question to a virtual presentation of Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss, left, featured in a testimonial interactive installation called "New Dimensions in Testimony" at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, in New York. "It's fascinating interacting with someone who appears to be so real and so alive," Mairzadeh said. "It makes me reflect on loved ones who have deceased." The exhibit is giving visitors a chance to interact with virtual versions of Holocaust survivors Pinchas Gutter and Schloss on high-definition video monitors, who give answers to questions based on many hours of their recorded interviews.

Josephine Mairzadeh, right, use a microphone to pose a question to a virtual presentation of Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss, left, featured in a testimonial interactive installation called "New Dimensions in Testimony" at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, in New York. "It's fascinating interacting with someone who appears to be so real and so alive," Mairzadeh said. "It makes me reflect on loved ones who have deceased." The exhibit is giving visitors a chance to interact with virtual versions of Holocaust survivors Pinchas Gutter and Schloss on high-definition video monitors, who give answers to questions based on many hours of their recorded interviews.

(Bebeto Matthews / AP)

Karen MatthewsAssociated Press

An exhibit at a New York City museum is giving visitors a chance to interact with virtual versions of two Holocaust survivors.

The installation at the Museum of Jewish Heritage includes Eva Schloss, whose mother married Anne Frank's father after Anne's death.

It presents Schloss and fellow survivor Pinchas Gutter on high-definition video monitors. Visitors ask them questions which are answered based on hours of recorded interviews.

The project is a collaboration between the Shoah Foundation and the Institute for Creative Technologies, both at the University of Southern California.

It uses language recognition technology to pull up relevant responses to questions.

The project's creators say they want to give future generations a way to talk to Holocaust survivors.

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